Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has likened the adversity facing his administration to that of the Jews in Hitler’s Germany.

According to The Guardian, Venezuela’s 54-year-old president addressed his cabinet during a televised meeting and said: “We are the new Jews of the 21st century that Hitler pursued. We don’t carry the yellow star of David […] we carry red hearts that are filled with desire to fight for human dignity. And we are going to defeat them, these 21st-century Nazis.” Maduro also compared rallies held by political opponents and protestors to those that the Nazis held during fascist Germany.

The president’s comments came in response to the mounting opposition against his administration. The Guardian reports that Venezuelan officials, and their families, when traveling abroad, have been subject to insults and ridicule from those opposing the regime.

Maduro’s administration has accused protestors of trying to overthrow the government and has called them “terrorists,” Reuters reported.

Although Maduro claims his administration is persecuted, it’s the Venezuelan President’s regime that has been compared to a dictatorship.

Anti-Maduro protesters and political opponents have been subject to rights violations, violence, and even murder, at the hands of the Maduro administration. This chaos has become commonplace in Venezuela, as tensions between those in charge and those protesting has increased.